Showing posts with label freedom of information act. Show all posts
Showing posts with label freedom of information act. Show all posts

Sunday, June 12, 2011

Is your council prepared for zombie outbreak?

A lot of fun has been made out of the fact that a "Concerned Citizen" put in a Freedom of Information Act request to Leicester City Council in England, asking to be told "what provisions [they] have in place in the event of a zombie invasion?" Understandably everyone laughs, and the BBC article linked to above quotes an individual who runs a "zombie website" mocking the concerned citizen's state of mind. I suspect if I were to make a similar request of my local council, the outcome would be the same.

Nevertheless, there is a real question here,(*) and it is possible to ask it in such a way as to receive a sensible answer: how well would your local government react to something as unlikely, unplanned, and catastrophic as a zombie infection? Here are some concrete issues we might ask about:
  1. medical supplies and emergency plans in place in case of mass break-out of unforeseen infectious epidemic;
  2. emergency measures for a breakdown of public services, food/water/power supply, communications, etc.;
  3. public control measures in case of pandemic of random individual and group violence;
  4. procedures for emergency services to follow in the case that public officials have not been able/willing to admit the nature of the outbreak--can we do something about it without admitting it's a "zombie invasion"?
  5. communication: how to inform everybody of the danger and the administration's official response to it in the case of power cuts, satellite/cell reception failure, etc.
  6. quarantine plans: when do we decide the danger is over?
  7. citizen defence plans: how should individuals be advised to protect themselves/their homes/families?
What have I forgotten?

(*) Consider this a thought experiment for more generalized disaster planning if you like; or, as I do, as thinking through a problem that you might write a story about some time.